If you want to watch a grown adult malfunction in real time, don’t show them quantum physics. Just mention pronouns.
Suddenly, people who haven’t opened a biology textbook since eighth grade start screaming about chromosomes in Target. They insist that trans identity is a trend, a contagion, or society collapsing. Meanwhile, every major medical, psychological, psychiatric, and public health authority is quietly saying: “That’s not how any of this works.”1,2
Average number of chromosomes discussed at Target: all of them.
Number of biology degrees in the argument: nearly zero.
Percent of major medical associations agreeing trans people exist: one hundred.
Trans culture isn’t ideology. It isn’t politics. It’s the lived experience of people whose gender identity doesn’t match the sticker slapped on them at birth.
People aren’t becoming trans. They’re becoming honest.
Number of new genders created since Facebook added 56: none.
Number of humans finally allowed to name theirs: millions.
Trans culture begins when someone realizes the gender printed on their birth certificate feels about as accurate as calling a goldfish a stapler. They stop contorting themselves into a costume others prefer and start living as the person who has been quietly narrating their life from the inside. When enough people have that revelation, they find each other. Language forms. Humor forms. Chosen family forms.
This isn’t rebellion. It’s relief with a pulse.
Transgender vs. Gender Non-Conforming
People confuse these terms the way they confuse a cappuccino with warm milk that merely walked past a coffee bean.
Being transgender is identity. Someone knows who they are, and that inner knowing does not match the sex on their birth certificate.2
Being gender non-conforming is expression. It’s clothing, behavior, eyeliner, haircuts, fabric, and attitude.
Identity is who you are. Expression is how you decorate yourself. Society keeps trying to police clothing, unaware that identity is immune to policing.
Number of genders in the DSM: zero.
Number of ways to wear eyeliner: infinite.
Amount of masculinity lost from using conditioner: none.
Trans Culture in Media and Pop Culture
For most of cinematic history, Hollywood treated trans people as punch lines or jump scares. Then the lights came on.3
Pose placed trans women of color at the center of ballroom culture and showed that chosen family is not sentimental. It is survival.4
Euphoria let Hunter Schafer exist on screen without reducing her identity to trauma content.5
Heartstopper treated a trans character like a human being instead of a Very Important Lesson.6
Disclosure revealed how fear was manufactured where empathy should have lived.3
Visibility is not being stared at. It is being understood.
As Laverne Cox, actress and the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy, said, “When we are able to be seen, the humanity that we hold is inescapable.”7
Years Hollywood cast trans women as serial killers: too many.
Years since audiences started noticing: not enough.
Percent of empathy gained by showing up as yourself: measurable.
Common Myths That Refuse to Die
People claim being trans is a trend. If identity were a trend, it would have vanished like frosted tips. Research shows many trans people know something feels off script long before they have language for it.8
Social media did not create gender identity. Social media gave people vocabulary. Others claim being trans is mental illness. In 2019 the World Health Organization removed gender identity from the mental illness category.9 If identity caused distress, affirmation would not reduce suicidality, yet every major study shows that gender affirming care dramatically decreases depression and suicidal ideation.10
2019: WHO stops calling trans identity a disorder.9
2022: JAMA Pediatrics shows affirmation saves lives.10
Percent of people claiming science disagrees: also, one hundred, but louder.
Why People Get So Strange About It
People want gender to behave like a two drawer filing cabinet. The idea that gender might be a walk in closet with adjustable shelving produces existential heartburn. Others cling to ideology instead of science. They yell chromosomes because learning endocrinology takes longer.
As Dave Farina, science educator and host of Professor Dave Explains, says, “Sex is biological classification. Gender is psychological identity. Chromosomes do not dictate personality or destiny.”11
Fear also sells. Politicians know that if you convince people that someone else’s existence threatens them, you can control them.13
As James Baldwin, novelist and civil rights essayist, said, “The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.”12
Approximate time it takes to say chromosomes: one second.
Approximate time it takes to understand hormones: a semester.
Average profit margin on fear: astronomical.
The Civil Rights Issue
This is a civil rights issue. It determines whether someone can access healthcare, update a driver’s license, play sports, appear on a school roster, or simply use a bathroom without being criminalized.13
Trans people are not asking for special privileges. They are asking to exist.
As Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, said, “Hope will never be silent.”14
Number of anti-trans bills tracked in 2025: over five hundred.13
Number of bathrooms used peacefully before 2015: all of them.
Number of reasons this is still debated: none that hold water.
Who Becomes Trans
There is no solid evidence that one direction of transition is more common than another. Some studies show a temporary increase of assigned female youth identifying as trans masculine.15 The explanation is cultural. Tomboys were tolerated. Feminine boys were punished. The numbers reflect permission, not identity trends.
Generations told girls can climb trees: several.
Generations told boys can cry: still pending.
Trends explained by honesty, not contagion.
Autism Spectrum Differences And Trans Identity
There is a measurable overlap between transgender identity and autism spectrum neurotype.16 Not causation. Overlap. Autistic people are less likely to perform social masking and more likely to question identity assumptions.17 If a neurotypical person senses internal conflict, they may bury it. A neurodivergent person asks the forbidden question. Who am I.
This is not confusion. It is clarity without camouflage.
Percent overlap between autism and trans identity: measurable.16
Percent of autistic people who pretend less: nearly all.17
Diagnostic term for radical honesty: none.
Is There A Relationship Between Trans Identity And Homosexuality
Gender identity is who you are. Sexual orientation is who you love.18
A trans woman who dates men is straight. A trans man who dates men is gay.
Being trans is not a form of being gay. It is a form of being human.
Number of humans who conflate gender and sexuality: most.
Number of humans who understand both: increasing.
How Many Trans People Exist And Are The Numbers Changing
The UCLA Williams Institute estimated that in 2011, about 0.6 percent of U.S. adults identified as transgender. In 2016 it rose to 0.9 percent. In 2022 it reached 1.6 percent, roughly 5.2 million adults.19 When youth are included, the percentage rises slightly because younger generations have vocabulary and permission to speak.20
The increase is not more trans people. It is fewer closets.
Canada shows similar numbers.21 The United Nations notes that countries with punishment laws report lower numbers not because fewer trans people exist but because truth becomes dangerous.22
2011: 0.6 percent.
2016: 0.9 percent.
2022: 1.6 percent.19
Number of chromosomes cited as cause: still 46.
How Other Countries Treat Their Trans Citizens
Some countries let trans people exist. Canada, Spain, and New Zealand allow gender marker changes without forced surgery and include gender affirming care in national healthcare.23 Others treat being trans as a threat. Russia bans transition care. Uganda criminalizes LGBTQ existence.24 Japan until recently required sterilization before legal gender change.25
Law reveals what a culture fears.
Number of countries offering gender change by self-determination: rising.23
Number requiring sterilization first: still too many.25
Correlation between fear and cruelty: perfect.
Famous Trans People For Understanding
Trans people are not new. Visibility is new.
Marsha P. Johnson, Black trans activist and drag performer, stood at the center of the Stonewall uprising and said, “No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.”
Elliot Page, actor and advocate known for Juno and The Umbrella Academy, said, “I felt like I was dying inside before I came out.”
Janet Mock, writer, director, and producer of Pose, wrote, “Telling our stories is a revolutionary act.”
Wendy Carlos, pioneering electronic musician behind Switched On Bach and A Clockwork Orange, changed the sound of modern music while transitioning.
Sarah McBride, Delaware state senator and LGBTQ activist, became the first openly transgender state senator in the United States.25
They are not exceptions. They are evidence.
Year of the Stonewall uprising: 1969.
Year a trans woman was elected senator: 2020.
Years between justice and recognition: too many.
How This Relates To Psychiatry And Public Health
Psychiatry and public health share the same mission: reduce suffering, increase functioning. Every major study shows that when trans people are affirmed, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation drop.10,25
As Carl Rogers, humanistic psychologist and founder of client centered therapy, said, “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”25
Identity does not need treatment. Shame does.
Average number of disorders cured by shame: zero.
Average reduction in suicidality after affirmation: significant.10
Number of humans thriving once accepted: more than you think.
Trans culture is not rebellion. It is recognition. It is not about becoming someone different. It is about becoming someone true.
If this stirred you, irritated you, educated you, or made you pace around your kitchen, perfect. Say something. Respond. Push back. Expand.
COMMENT BELOW.
Find me at www.boulderpsychiatryassociates.com
If you are in Colorado, or want to fly to Boulder, schedule a consultation. If you are a legislator who wants data instead of panic, call me. If you are a parent trying to understand your child, I will treat you with humanity, humor, and science.
Your voice matters. Say something.
REFERENCES
- APA. Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People, 2015. ↑
- APA. DSM 5, 2013. ↑
- Serano, Julia. Whipping Girl, 2007. ↑
- FX Networks. Pose, 2018. ↑
- HBO and A24. Euphoria including interviews with Hunter Schafer, 2019. ↑
- Netflix. Heartstopper, 2022. ↑
- Cox, Laverne. Interview, Time Magazine, 2014. ↑
- Olson, K. R. et al. Psychological Science, 2015. ↑
- WHO. ICD 11 Revision, 2019. ↑
- Turban, J. L. et al. JAMA Pediatrics, 2022. ↑
- Farina, Dave. Professor Dave Explains, 2023. ↑
- Baldwin, James. No Name in the Street, 1972. ↑
- ACLU. Anti Trans Legislation Tracker, 2025. ↑
- Milk, Harvey. Collected Speeches, 1978. ↑
- Littman, L. PLOS One, 2018. ↑
- Warrier, V. et al. Nature Communications, 2020. ↑
- Cassidy, S. et al. Autism, 2021. ↑
- Human Rights Campaign, 2022. ↑
- UCLA Williams Institute. “How Many Adults Identify as Transgender,” 2022. ↑
- UCLA Williams Institute. “Transgender Youth in the United States,” 2022. ↑
- Statistics Canada, 2021. ↑
- UN Free & Equal, 2023. ↑
- Spain Gender Self Determination Act; New Zealand Births Deaths and Marriages Act, 2023. ↑
- Russia ban; Uganda Anti Homosexuality Act, 2023. ↑
- Combined: Elliot Page interview; Janet Mock; Wendy Carlos; Sarah McBride; Carl Rogers. ↑
